"Is that Evelyn!?" someone pointed in her direction but Evelyn did not turn back to see who it was. She did not move at all as she held the arm and smiled like a fool.
The room reeked of fancy alcohol and perfume. All the rich heirs and heiresses or business tycoons were collected in the birthday party of Mrs Spencer. It was a highly sought out dinner that people could not attend just because of their wealth.
Evelyn stood beside Damien like an accessory. She was elegant but invisible. Her hand rested lightly on his arm, a practiced smile on her lips as he entertained a circle of investors, gesturing smoothly while talking about his latest acquisition.
"The deal was a difficult one but I already knew the details of the supplier. It did not have to break their chain. And I know they would come begging to me.," Damien said, swirling his glass of wine. "Now I have offered them eighty percent of what I have offered them before yet they were ready to take it. It is simple to understand these small startups and break them apart. The acquisition would be smoother than I had thought. I already placed the preliminary stake. Market share won't be a problem."
The men laughed, impressed.
"I can not believe they tried to stand against you. They should have prepared for this day Mr Moore. I will wait for another invitation." The man raised his hand and offered a toast to Damien.
Evelyn smiled and raised her glass top earning a chuckle from the partners.
"Your wife is really beautiful!" the man said and she smiled brightly. Damien patted her hand but did not respond. What else did she have except that face and smile! Even a teenager is smarter than her!
They continued their conversation while Evelyn randomly smiled and looked around. Her phone rested in her clutch, screen dimmed but the voice memo was recording everything. She glanced down only once, checking the time. Eleven minutes, forty-two seconds. She knew he wouldn't notice.
As the discussion shifted toward stocks and offshore assets, Damien's attention wavered. Eventually, his eyes caught something across the ballroom and he whispered something in her ears and left. Evelyn did not. She watched him going to the other side and holding a woman by her waist.
He leaned closer and the girl kissed him boldly. The scene earned cheers but the man did not care. He leaned in and enjoyed the warmth of a hot girl in his arms.
Evelyn watched as if she was watching a stranger. She stopped the recording on her phone and excused herself from the company.
She made her way toward the refreshment table, but didn't get far before a familiar voice laced with mockery rang out behind her.
"Well, if it isn't the queen of the silent wives," said Cassandra Liang, daughter of a real estate mogul and one of Damien's many admirers. Two other heiresses flanked her like a petty royal court.
"Three years of marriage and he still flirts with anything in heels," Cassandra continued. "I don't know how you manage to stay so... composed. Or is it spineless?"
The others giggled.
Evelyn turned to look at her with a calm look on her face, "Was there something you needed?"
Cassandra raised an eyebrow. "Oh, just wondering if you ever get tired of being ignored. Or maybe you like playing the doormat?"
More people joined the show and laughed at Evelyn.
But Evelyn only gave a soft shrug. "Sometimes it is better to be a quiet doormat than a loud fool. At least, I am still his legal wife."
The laughter stopped when Cassandra's smile froze. That was the only weak point of Cassandra! Evelyn was still his legal wife!
"I'm sorry," Evelyn added gently, "I forgot some people mistake noise for relevance."
And with that, she stepped away and headed to the corner of the ballroom where a long buffet was laid out in glittering tiers. She took a small plate, carefully selecting a few hors d'oeuvres, and sat at an empty table.
As she ate, she replayed Damien's business pitch in her mind, the name of the start up he was taking over. The projects he had planned for it and all the suppliers and their weaknesses. They didn't realize it, but they had handed her the skeleton of a plan.
Let them mock. Let them think she was passive, voiceless, forgettable. They had no idea what she was building.
Her eyes lifted briefly toward the grand staircase. Damien was ascending, his hand on another woman's waist. They disappeared around the corner. Her eyes had nothing but coldness that had seeped in her bones.
A man slid into the seat across from her, clearly drunk and emboldened. "You're too pretty to sit alone. How about I keep you company tonight?"
Before she could reply, another voice cut in.
"She is not available."
Damien's secretary, Marcus appeared behind her and she was glad that she had not opened the recording. His eyes narrowed at the man, who instantly retreated with a muttered apology.
"Let's get you home," Marcus said, offering his arm. "It's getting late."
She nodded, grateful not for the rescue but for the excuse to leave.
"Have you ever thought about leaving, marcus?" she asked softly. The man paused for a second before he went stiff again.
"My boss offered me enough to stay." she nodded silently. Indeed he did offer enough.
The house was quiet when she returned.
Without Damien and his ego, the place felt much better.
She closed the door behind her, kicked off her heels, and walked up to the study. For a long moment, she stood still, staring at her reflection in the glass doors of the bookcase.
Most people would expect tears from her, maybe a breakdown. But Evelyn wasn't most people.
She sat down, opened her laptop, and connected to a video call.
"Miss Evelyn," a voice greeted from the other side of the screen. "The tech consultant from Singapore is online. Shall we begin?"
Evelyn smiled. The glow from the screen lit her face like the dawn.
"Let's talk numbers," she said.
And just like that, while Damien wasted himself on flings and fake applause, Evelyn began building her empire.